The Cherokee Nation is Oklahoma's largest Native group and the second largest
in the United States. The Cherokee Nation is the direct, lineal descendant of
the sovereign tribal government that presided over much of the southeastern
United States before European colonization. The major concentration of
contemporary Cherokees live in fourteen northeastern Oklahoma counties within
the original 1835 tribal treaty boundaries.

The Cherokee Nation is not a reservation,
but a jurisdictional service area that includes all of eight counties and
portions of six in northeastern Oklahoma. What remained of Cherokee
tribal land following the Civil War was divided into individual allotments
which were given to Cherokees listed in the census compiled by the Dawes
Commission in the late 1890s. Descendants of those original enrollees make
up today’s Cherokee Nation tribal citizenship of more than 200,000 people.
Almost 70,000 of these Cherokees reside in the 7,000 square mile area of the
Cherokee Nation.

If you can prove each generation of your lineage back to
an individual who settled in one of Oklahoma's territories on or before 16
November 1907, you are eligible for membership in First
Families of the Twin Territories.

Until this site has volunteers to help, look up
assistance can be found here.

Counties in the Cherokee Nation, Oklahoma are shown in the map
on the right.
See below this table for additional
information on each county.

The Cherokee
Nation used the term 'District' rather than 'County.'

District

Date Created

Parent District

Adair

16 July 1907

Choctaw Lands

Cherokee

16 July 1907

Choctaw Lands

Craig

16 July 1907

Cherokee Lands

Delaware

16 July 1907

Cherokee County

Mayes

16 July 1907

Cherokee Lands

McIntosh

16 July 1907

Creek Lands

Muskogee

1898

Creek Nation

Nowata

16 July 1907

Cherokee Lands

Ottawa

16 July 1907

Cherokee Nation

Rogers

16 July 1907

Cherokee Nation

Sequoyah

16 July 1907

Cherokee Lands

Tulsa

1905

Creek Lands

Wagoner

1908

Creek Lands

Washington

1897

Cherokee Lands

County Creation - Additional Data

A convention met at Tahlequah in
September, composed mostly of Eastern Cherokees, and framed a new constitution,
which was ratified by a convention of Old Settlers at Fort Gibson, June 26,
1840. For purposes of civil administration and the apportionment of
legislators, the Cherokee Nation was divided into nine districts similar in size
and organization to counties. They were called Canadian, Illinois, Sequoyah,
Flint, Delaware, Goingsnake, Tahlequah, and Cooweescoowee, the last one being
named in honor of John Ross, whose Cherokee name that was.

The Constitutional Convention named all of the
counties which were formed from that part of the state of Oklahoma which was
included in the Indian Territory together with several new counties which were
formed from portions of Oklahoma Territory. Two new counties have been formed
and named since the state was admitted to the Union.

Cherokee Nation's
Tahlequah District; name said to have been derived from a Chickasaw word "Chiluk-ki," meaning cave
people.

42,521

751 sq mi
(1,945 km)

Craig

Vinita

Granville Craig, a
prominent mixed-blood-Cherokee farmer who had lived in the Welch-Bluejacket area
since 1873.

14,950

761 sq mi
(1,971 km)

Delaware

Jay

Delaware District of old Cherokee Nation.

37,077

741 sq mi
(1,919 km)

Mayes

Pryor

(See below).*

Honors Cherokee Chief
Samuel H. Mayes. Pryor, or Pryor Creek, named for early trader and Indian
subagent Nathaniel Pryor, became the county seat.

38,369

656 sq mi
(1,699 km)

McIntosh

Eufaula

Named for the
prominent McIntosh family of the Creek Nation, many of whom were chiefs and
leaders.

19,456

620 sq mi
(1,606 km)

Muskogee

Muskogee

County
named from the
city, which in turn was named for the Muskogee or Creek tribe of Indians. The
word is a corruption of "Maskoki" said to have been derived from an
Algonquin word signifying swamp or marshy land.

69,451

814 sq mi
(2,108 km)

Nowata

Nowata

County
named from its
county seat town. The name is said to be a corruption of the Delaware Indian
word "Noweeta" meaning "welcome."

10,569

565 sq mi
(1,463 km)

Ottawa

Miami

Named for the
tribal name, corruption of "Adawe," meaning to trade or traffic.

33,194

471 sq mi
(1,220 km)

Rogers

Claremore

Named for
Clement V. Rogers, member of the Constitutional Convention and father of Will
Rogers, the stage comedian.

70,641

675 sq mi
(1,748 km)

Sequoyah

Sallisaw

Named for
the Cherokee Native who invented the Cherokee alphabet.

38,972

674 sq mi
(1,746 km)

Tulsa

Tulsa

Tulsey Town, an old
Creek settlement in Oklahoma

563,299

570 sq mi
(1,476 km)

Wagoner

Wagoner

The County was named for its county seat, which in turn is said to have been named for
Bailey P. Waggoner, attorney of the Missouri Pacific Railway Company at the time
of building one of its lines led to the founding of the town.

57,491

563 sq mi
(1,458 km)

Washington

Bartlesville

In honor
of President George Washington.

48,996

417 sq mi
(1,080 km)

*Creation of Mayes
county began with the constitution for the proposed State of Sequoyah in August
1905. The document designated 48 counties. Nine of these, including Mayes,
became part of the state by the Oklahoma Constitutional Convention, effective at
statehood on November 16, 16 July 1907.

Would you like to host an OK/ITGenWeb site? Just have a look at our
orphan counties page.

If the county you wish to host is
already taken, all you need to do is contact our
IT/OK Coordinators,
Ron
Henson or Bobbi Dunn.
They keep a waiting list you will
be added you to.